Music of Thailand
Thailand retains
cultural connections with the two great centers of
Asian
civilizations,
India and
China. Though Thailand was never
colonized by Western powers,
pop music and other forms of
European and
American music have become extremely influential. The two most popular styles of traditional Thai music are
luk thung and
mor lam; the latter in particular has close affinities with the
Music of Laos.
Aside from the Thai, minorities of ,
Lawa,
Hmong,
Akha,
Mien,
Lisu,
Karen and
Lahu peoples have retained traditional musical forms.
Thai music was part of an oral culture and developed no traditional system of notation. "As an integrated, unique system the traditional music of Thailand is probably not more than six hundred years old." (Morton 1978, p.1) The classical or
Bangkok period beginning 1782 may be considered "a culmination of musical evolution that probably started, as nearly as can be ascertained from the references, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with the rise of
Ayuthaya as the capital," (ibid) in 1350. Music flourished for the next few centuries, in spite of occasional oppression from monarchs like
Rama I and the burning of Ayuthaya, including its art collections and libraries, in 1767 the result of which is a loss of most knowledge necessary to reconstruct the history of Thai music before the Bangkok period.
Classical music
The earliest Thai ensembles were called
piphat, and they included
woodwind and
percussion instruments, originally in order to accompany traditional theater and religious rituals. Another ensemble type,
khruang sai, consists primarily of
string instruments, while the
mahori mixes strings with melodic percussion instruments and flute.
Fundamentals
"Thai music is nonharmonic, melodic, or linear, and as is the case with all musics of this genre, its fundamental organization is
horizontal...Thai music in its horizontal complex is made up of a main melody played simultaneously with variants of it which progress in relatively slower and faster rhythmic units." (ibid, p.21) This is known as
heterophony or polyphonic stratification: instrumentalists improvise
idiomatically around the central melody.
Rhythmically and
metrically Thai music is steady in tempo, regular in pulse,
divisive, in
simple duple meter, without
swing, with little
syncopation (p.3, 39), and with the emphasis on the final beat of a
measure or group of
pulses and
phrase (p.41), as opposed to the first as in European-influenced music. The Thai scale includes seven equal notes, instead of a mixture of tones and semitones.
Traditional or folk
Luk thung
Luk thung, or Thai country music, developed in the mid-
20th century to reflect daily trials and tribulations of rural Thais.
Ponsri Woranut and
Suraphol Sombatcharoen were the genre's first big stars, incorporating influences from
Latin America,
Asia and, especially, American film
soundtracks and
country music. Many of the most popular artists have come from the central city of
Suphanburi, including megastar
Pumpuang Duangjan, who pioneered
electronic luk thung. The first all
luk thung radio station was launched in
1997.
Mor lam
|
Khene player wearing sarong and pakama at the Ubon Candle Festival |
Mor lam is the dominant folk music of Thailand's north-eastern
Isan region, which has a mainly Lao population. It has much in common with
luk thung, such as its focus on the life of the rural poor. It is characterized by rapid-fire, rhythmic vocals and a
funk feel to the percussion. The lead singer, also called a mor lam, is most often accompanied by the
khaen.
There are about fifteen regional variations of
mor lam, plus modern versions such as
mor lam sing. Some conservatives have criticized these as the commercialization of traditional cultures.
Kantrum
The people of Isan are also known for
kantrum, which is much less famous for mor lam. Kantrum is played by
Cambodians living near the border with Cambodia. It is a swift and very traditional
dance music. In its purest form,
cho-kantrum, singers, percussion and fiddles dominate the sound. A more modern form using electric instrumentation arose in the mid-
1980s. Later in the decade,
Darkie became the genre's biggest star, and he crossed into mainstream markets in the later
1990s.
Pop and rock
By the
1930s, however, Western
classical music,
showtunes,
jazz and
tango were popular. Soon, jazz grew to dominate Thai popular music, and
Khru Eua Sunthornsanan soon set up the first Thai jazz band. The music he soon helped to invent along with influential band
Suntharaporn was called
pleng Thai sakorn, which incorporated Thai melodies with Western classical music. This music continued to evolve into
luk grung, a romantic music that was popular with the upper-class.
King Bhumibol is an accomplished jazz musician and
composer.
Pleng phua cheewit
By the
1960s, Western rock was popular and Thai artists began imitating bands like
Cliff Richard & the Shadows; this music was called
wong shadow, and it soon evolved into a form of Thai pop called
string. The following decade saw
Rewat Buddhinan beginning to use the
Thai language in rock music. The 70s also saw the rise of protest songs called
pleng phua cheewit (
songs for life).
The earliest pleng phua cheewit band was called
Caravan, and they soon emerged at the forefront of a movement for democracy. In
1976, police and rightwing activists attacked students at
Thammasat University; Caravan, along with other bands and activists, fled for the rural hills. There, Caravan continued playing music for local farmers, and composed what is now their most famous song, "Khon Gap Kwaii".
In the
1980s, pleng phua cheewit re-entered the mainsteam with a grant of amnesty to dissidents. Bands like
Carabao became best-sellers and incorporated sternly
nationalistic elements in their lyrics. By the
1990s, pleng phua cheewit had fallen from the top of the Thai charts, though artists like
Pongsit Kamphee continued to command a large audience.
String
String pop took over mainstream listeners in Thailand in the 90s, and
bubblegum pop stars like
Tata Young,
Bird McIntyre and
Asanee-Wasan became best-sellers. Simultaneously,
Britpop influenced alternative rock artists like
Modern Dog,
Crub and
Pround became popular in late 1990s. In 2006, famous Thai rock bands include
Clash,
Big Ass,
Bodyslam and
Silly Fools.
Indie
A group of independent artists and records which produces music for non-commercial propose also found in Thailand: Bakery music [
1]; Smallroom [
2]; FAT radio [
3]; City-Blue [
4]; Coolvoice [
5]; Dudesweet [
6]; Idea-radio [
7] and Panda Records [
8].
*Clewley, John. "Songs for Living". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.),
World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 241-253. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
*Morton, David (1976).
The Traditional Music of Thailand. University of California Press. ISBN 0520018761.
